An Uplifting Read of Friendship | Once We Were Strangers: What Friendship With a Syrian Refugee Taught Me About Loving My Neighbor by Shawn Smucker

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 2012, Mohammad fled his Syrian village along with his wife and four sons, escaping to Jordan through the wilderness. Four years later he sat across from Shawn Smucker in a small conference room in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Though neither of them knew it, Mohammad had arrived in Shawn's life just in time.

This is the story of a friendship. It is the story of a middle-aged writer struggling to make a living and a Syrian refugee struggling to create a life for his family in a strange and sometimes hostile land. It's the story of two fathers hoping for the best, two hearts seeking compassion, two lives changed forever. It's the story of our moment in history and the opportunities it gives us to show love and hospitality to the sojourner in our midst.

Anyone who has felt torn between the desire for security and the desire to offer sanctuary to those fleeing war and violence will find Shawn Smucker a careful and loving guide on the road to mercy and unity.

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: October 16, 2018

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The Friday 56 & First Line Friday | There's Something About Christmas

The Friday 56 is hosted weekly by Freda's Voice.
First Line Friday is hosted weekly by Hoarding Books.

Happy Friday!

And happy November! I can't believe it's November already.

Well, I have unashamedly started my (non-review) Christmas reading. The first of many holiday books I hope to read, this Debbie Macomber book was cute and entertaining and left me wanting to try fruitcake for the first time—maybe I'll have to make one of the included recipes...

Starstruck | Spotlight

ABOUT THE BOOK

Having your book turned into a TV series is every writer’s dream come true… 

Unless your leading man happens to be your ex. 

Novelist Christine Lind has achieved her lifelong dream—a string of best-selling books and a cable-TV adaptation about to go into production. But on her way to London FanFest for the cast reveal, disaster strikes: their leading man is injured in a motorcycle accident… and his replacement is the one person she hoped she’d never seen again.

Nick Cleary has clawed his way to recognition as a Hollywood actor, but it’s long past time he get the chance to show he’s more than a pretty face and a chiseled set of abs. His big break comes in the form of a juicy lead role in a new steampunk fantasy series. There’s just one catch—casting has to be approved by the author… a woman he once devastated through his own youthful stupidity.

Christine is the last person to be starstruck by the handsome heartthrob, but as the clock ticks down to the cast announcement and Nick races to show that he’s really changed, she begins to wonder if there’s more to her ex than his Hollywood persona. Except now the consequences of being wrong no longer apply only to her career… but also to her carefully guarded heart.

Release Date: November 1, 2018

Goodreads | Amazon

OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

Jilted

Get the first Discovered by Love novella for free here.

A Road Trip & Second Chances | Miles From Where We Started by Cynthia Ruchti

ABOUT THE BOOK

These no-longer-newlyweds want out of this road trip—and their marriage. Too bad they can’t find the off ramp.

Weeks away from their one-year wedding anniversary, Mallory and Connor Duncan can’t even agree on how to end their marriage. But when a last-minute crisis lands them on a three-thousand-mile road trip together, Mallory wonders if their story may not be over after all.

The trip begins to unravel before the key is even in the ignition, and an at-risk, trouble-seeking missile of an eleven-year-old is unexpectedly launched into their travel plans. Close quarters get even tighter, and the couple believes this whole experience will spell disaster.

Their first year of marriage hasn’t been the arm-in-arm togetherness they expected. How can they find a new beginning when the road ends?

Publisher: October 16, 2018

Release Date: Gilead Publishing

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Wholly Enjoyable | The Rancher's Rescue by Cari Lynn Webb

ABOUT THE BOOK

He isn’t home to stay.

Until a mother-to-be changes his mind.

Ethan Blackwell is back in Falcon Creek to save his family ranch after his grandfather disappears. When Grace Gardner reveals she’s pregnant with his child, she becomes Ethan’s top priority. But can he be the man he wants to be—preserving the Blackwell legacy and making a life with Grace—in a place he never planned to settle down?

Publisher: Harlequin Heartwarming

Release Date: September 1, 2018

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OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

The Rancher's Twins

The Rancher's Redemption

The Rancher's Fake Fiancée

 The Rancher's Homecoming